Name: Teetotallers' Christmas Pudding
Ingredients: 2 pounds raisins, pitted; 1 pound currants, washed and dried; 2 pounds beef suet, chopped; ½ pound brown sugar; 6 ounces candied peel, chopped; 2½ pounds all-purpose flour; 6 eggs; 1 quart milk or more; 1 ounce mixed spice; 1 tablespoon salt

Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,759 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, beef, sugar, flour, egg, milk):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, beef, sugar, flour, egg, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Teetotallers' Christmas Pudding